Latest Blogs

"What a privilege it is to have a body, to breathe, to walk, to be." ~Willow 
52 Weeks of Gratitude - Week One
Welcome to Week 1: Body
With the start of a new year, I frame my intentions towards who I want to become. This year I am returning to daily gratitude on this journey to a better self. Reaching for the opportunities brought by the clean slate of a New Year.
When focusing on gratitude,...

Here I grow again...
I thrive on the pattern that goal setting creates. Establishing accountability in the areas I want to change and guidance towards my potential. Each year I compile a list of intentions, areas I seek improvement where tiny shifts cast new habits.
After looking through a few sites for goal setting advice I created this list to focus on specific areas of improvement. Is there...

"We rise by lifting others" ~Robert Ingersol
This year I wanted to do thirty acts of kindness to represent Ryan's 30th birthday. Although I don't have the exact numbers I am pretty sure I met my goal. Here are a few of the places where Ryan left his mark in 2017.
"Some of our best living is done through the people we leave behind"
When paying it forward I strive to balance giving for those in...

Each year I reveal a word to color the coming year that will tether both my intentions and goals while finding meaning to the next 365 days. This year  LIGHT  chose me, and am eager to embrace it with my daily routine.
Light 
noun
Something that makes things visible or affords illumination: All colors depend on light.verb
to cause (the face, surroundings, etc.) to brighten, especially with joyto guide or conduct with a light:Idioms
bring to light, to discover or reveal:come to light, to be discovered or revealed:light at the end of the tunnel, a prospect of success, relief, or...

The New Year provides a place of clarity where I gather the moments of my year to examine their purpose. I bet when written, gathering all the pieces into one space can awaken the peaks and valleys throughout a year. And with the evolution of a year, this awareness provides the steps to change that course. 
What did you do with your year? Did you challenge yourself, learn a new lesson or grow...

On January 7, fifteen-years will have magically passed since I quit smoking and transformed my life, by deciding to change one thing.
I remember grappling with resolutions. Knowing I should quit smoking yet not quite committed. Choosing quit dates, then finding a reason not to follow through. Now the New Year was fast approaching and I extended my quit date to February. 
February 7, I thought,...

On Thanksgiving Day we picked up several copies of our local gazette and found our story, Pay it forward for Ryan on the front page. A story about giving back, even when you are in pain, in fact, especially when you are in pain. These small steps allowed me to see Joy again.

It is time to put aside your Eeyore tendencies and find your inner Tigger. While optimism is both genetic and learned, it is something we can improve if practiced.
Join me on a year-long journey with gratitude leading the way and watch your attitude transform. Both, thinking positive and surrounding ourselves with positive people make gratitude infectious. Find your people and uncover gratitude...
Reframe...

Brain Struggles
Some day’s time dissolves into nothingness as the pieces I once identified with slip through my fingers. The familiar fades in the distance and I examine the world for something recognizable.
I know every journey is different and that path is covered in a haze of unknown. The mystery of life unfolds so slowly, revealing meaning through love and challenge, heartache and joy, all...

A lesson during a recent writing course had us return to stories or ideas and rewrite them, a memory from long ago
The dimly lit room
The squalid hallway assaulted my senses with dread and disinfectant as they led us to his room. The outdated space with its cold tile floors and blue ticked curtains shifts my gaze from familiar to foreign while this somber scene unravels before us. 
The cramped...